


Life Saver

by blueelvewithwings



Series: Spanking Sunday [8]
Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Aftercare, Fluff, Guilt, M/M, Non-Sexual Spanking, Punishment, Spanking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-25
Updated: 2018-11-25
Packaged: 2019-08-28 08:41:22
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,945
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16720047
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blueelvewithwings/pseuds/blueelvewithwings
Summary: Barry feels guilty for failing to get all of the people out of the burning building. Luckily Len is there to pick up the pieces.





	Life Saver

**Author's Note:**

> //The prompt for this comes from the wonderful RedHarlequin: Barry gets too far into his own head and punishes himself for his mistakes too often. Len interferes and tells Barry he will take the responsibility of his punishments. Cue scene of Len lecturing Barry and turning his ass redder and redder, then finishing them both off and kissing Barry and making it clear he's forgiven. (I just failed putting in the smutty part, tbh)

When he entered Len‘s apartment, he didn‘t go into the kitchen to greet him first, but went straight into the bedroom to take his clothes off and grab his collar. He was shaking already, strung tight with the need to punish himself, to blame himself for the people he hadn‘t been able to solve. If he had only been a little bit faster, he‘d been able to drag those people from the building still, and he‘d have been able to save all their lives. It didn‘t happen every time, but Barry felt like a failure every time it happened.

Len had found him crying a while back, when he had still been Snart, after Barry had pulled as many people as he could out of a mall that Snart and Rory had robbed and that Rory had accidentally set on fire afterwards. Snart had found him crying behind the building, curled up between the dumpsters, angry at himself for not being fast enough. He had witnessed Barry shutting everyone out in the days after that and run himself ragged with training while failing to take care of himself.

In the end, Barry had passed out while trying to keep Snart from robbing a jewelry store, and he had woken up on an unfamilar couch in an unfamilar apartment with a ginormous pile of sandwiches beside him (made by Mick Rory himself, as he later learned), and a grumpy looking Leonard Snart sitting beside him.

Snart had made him talk then, had forced him to admit that he felt guilty and felt like he needed to be punished for his failures. Instead of denying that like everyone else always had, he simply nodded and explained to Barry that from now on, he would take care of Barry‘s punishments.

He had given Barry a key to his apartment, and at the end of the night, Snart had become Len.

By now, Barry didn‘t only come to Len‘s apartment for punishment anymore, he also dropped by for dates and evenings spend making out on the couch and some nights spend in bed together, followed by breakfast in the morning before Barry had to go to work. There wasn‘t a label on what they were yet, but Barry was happy with what they had.

Today, it had almost been like that first time that Len had found him, only that it had been some new meta setting the building on fire and not Mick. There were four people that he hadn‘t been able to get to, and he could still hear their screams in his ears even now as he padded over to the kitchen, kneeling down on his pillow and holding his collar out, waiting for Len to acknowledge him.

Sometimes he liked to tease Barry and let him wait a little, but Len seemed to sense how frazzled Barry was and came over immediately, picking the collar out of Barry‘s hands to fasten it around his neck. „Tell me, pet“ he murmured, running a hand through Barry‘s hair after testing the fit of the red leather around Barry‘s throat.

„There were four people today that I couldn‘t save, Master“ Barry told him, looking down on the tiled kitchen floor in shame. „There was a fire in an office building and I wasn‘t fast enough.“

There was no reaction, but when he looked up at Len he could see him look down at him in thought before nodding. „Four? That‘s not good, my pet. You clearly still need to work on your speed.“ It wasn‘t really a scolding, but that was not what Len did. Len punished him for his failures, he didn‘t blame him.

„I know, Master, I‘m sorry“, Barry whispered, tears already forming in his eyes.

Len just nodded and then gestured towards the little storage closet that held all their toys. „Get me the long riding crop, pet. I will punish you for your mistake.“

Barry nearly sobbed in relief and nodded, pushing himself to his feet and hurrying over to the closet to grab the crop and rushed back to present it to his Master. Len took it from him and gave him a gentle kiss on the forehead. „Good boy. Now stand at the end of the table, feet shoulder width apart, grab the edge of the table. Stand close enough that every strike will drive your hips into the table, I want to see bruises there by the end.“

Barry moved as instructed, easily taking the indicated position. It didn‘t even occur to protest this, nor did he want to. Len was punishing him now, after all, and he needed it. He needed it or he would do it himself again, and he had learned by now that that was not healthy behaviour.

Len made an appreciative noise as Barry stood as instructed, then placed the crop in front of Barry and walked out of his sight towards the back of the kitchen. „Now“, he explained, „I have a casserole in the oven, and I will spank you for as long as it bakes. That‘s twenty minutes, pet, five for every person you failed to safe today.“

„Of course, Master.“ Barry nodded, bracing himself for the first stroke. But as usual, it didn‘t come immediately. Len always made sure to check in with Barry about his safeword, after all. Only once they had done that did the punishment start.

It had been a while since they had used the crop, and the first impact made Barry startle. It felt so different from what they usually used, but it also got Barry directly into the mindset of being punished. He wasn‘t here to feel good after all, he was here to be punished and set right again.

„Thank you, Master“ he whispered, gripping onto the table harder and shuffling forward a tiny bit so he could make sure his hips would make contact with the table when jolted from the impact. Len had demanded bruises after all.

„Don‘t thank me just yet“, his Master responded from behind him and let the crop come down again. This time he was driven directly into the table, and he knew that if he stayed like this he would indeed have bruises on his hips as well. He gave a little chuckle in respsonse but didn‘t comment anymore, simply standing there and taking it.

Len was good with the crop, always landing precisely where he meant to and peppering Barry‘s skin in patches of red where the end of the crop hit. Sometimes he‘d suddenly take a half step forward and hit him with the shaft of the crop instead, and Barry knew he always made the most ungodly noises for those. They felt so different, and jolted him out of the rhythm of pain and movement he had been submitting himself to, keeping him alert and his thoughts from wandering.

„Now, tell me again how you were bad today“, Len commanded after a while, and Barry swallowed.

„I failed to save four people from a burning building, Master“, he told him again, hanging his head and staring at the tabletop. „I was not fast enough to get them all out, and the building collapsed from the damage before I could get to the last ones. I tried going in after the building had collapsed, but Cisco kept me from it so I wouldn‘t get burned.“ His eyes were starting to fill with tears again, threatening to drop, and he had to think of the four families who would be grieving now, mourning their lost ones that had been torn out of life like this. Families who could be happily having dinner together now if it hadn‘t been for the Flash being too slow to save them, if he had only been better, if he had only been good enough…

„What could you have done to prevent that from happening?“, Len asked him, his voice even and non-judgemental.

„I could have been faster… I should have been faster! I need to train more, Master, I need to get faster...“

The strikes came down a bit harder now, pushing him into the table with truly bruising force.

„You failed these four people, that doesn‘t mean you failed as a hero. I am punishing you now, and then we will decide what the consequences are. But first, you will pay for your failure.“

The next swat with the shaft of the crop was especially hard, and Barry let out a little sob.

„Thank you for punishing me, Master“; he sniffled, and Len gave him another hard strike in reply. „You will do better next time, I know. You hate failing, and yet you did so today, leaving four families to grieve their loved ones where it could have been avoided. You weren‘t fast enough to save everyone today. You let them down, Flash. You weren‘t the hero everyone thinks you are, weren‘t there to save the day for everyone.“

It hurt, having Len lay it out like that, but he knew it was the truth, so he just nodded and let his tears fall as the strikes continued to rain down on his ass.

„Those four families will never be the same again, there will always be a hole in their midst where their loved one should be, the one you were supposed to save. That is your job after all, as Central City‘s resident hero. Isn‘t it, my pet?“

„It is, Master. It should be, and I failed them, I‘m so sorry!“ Barry was full on crying by now, wanting to bury his face in his hands and sob, but Len had said to grip the edge of the table, so he did, wincing everytime he was pushed into the hard edge of the table.

„I‘m so sorry, Master, I promise I‘ll do better, I‘ll be good, please Master, thank you for punishing me!“ He started sobbing after all now, but still managed to leave his hands where they belonged. He could already start to feel the choking feeling of guilt leave him, feel it lift away as Len punished him for his mistakes. It was right, and he would bear his punishment, but he was so happy that it was administred by someone else by now, someone who could truly tell him what he had done wrong and how much punishment he needed for it.

„Thank you, Master, for making me better.“

He had barely finished the sentence before the timer on the oven beeped, and Len put the crop down. „Set the table while I get this out of the oven, will you, pet? And then get some underwear.“

Barry sniffled, but nodded through his tears, shuffling to set out two plates and cutlery on the appropriate place mats, then went to grab a pair of Len‘s boxers. He had plenty of his own here by now, but he always loved wearing Len‘s as a source of comfort.

When he got back into the kitchen, Len had just finished setting the casserole on the table, but Barry knew it still had to cool for a bit before they could eat it. So now Len leaned against the table and opened his arms, and Barry waisted no time in walking right into them, letting his Master pull him into a hug.

„Feel better?“ Len asked him, petting his hair as he held him.

„A little, Master“, Barry admitted. „Still couldn‘t save them though...“

Len pushed him back a little, just enough to take his face in both hands and press a kiss to his forehead. „But think about all the ones you _did_ save, my Scarlet. They far outnumber the few you didn‘t get anymore. Think about how many lives you saved, how many families will be celebrating tonight because they still have their loved ones with them. You did so great, my pet. They will write in the papers about you tomorrow again, how the Flash saved so many, and that you are the true hero of Central City. And you are, you know? But you‘re also human, and it‘s human to not always manage perfectly. It is okay for you to be sad about those you couldn‘t save, it is normal, but you can be so proud of yourself for managing so much, for saving all the others. When you left afterwards, Cisco called me to tell me you were likely coming and what had happened, and that you had run faster than you ever had in such a situation. You can be so proud of yourself, Barry. I am so proud of you.“

Barry sniffled into Len‘s shoulder, holding on to him as he let the comforting words seep into him, soaking them up, trying to believe all the praise that Len was giving him now. He wasn‘t quite sure he deserved it yet, but Len never gave out praise where it was undeserved. If Len was praising him, he must have done something right.

Len‘s lips were at his ear then, and he lightly kissed the shell before speaking. „You are forgiven now, pet. You have done so well, taken your punishment so beautifully. You are such a good boy.“

That made Barry‘s tears fall anew and he just clung tighter to Len. „Thank you, Master“ he whispered through his tears, but there was a smile forming on his face now, and he couldn‘t fight it down.

„Thank you for setting me right again.“ He still had the urge to run off to train and train and train until he was better, but it wasn‘t in the foreground anymore. He was here with Len now, and he would have dinner with Len and he had already been punished now, his ass was red and his hips were bruised, four points of soreness on his body for four people he had failed. Not much for four deaths, but Len said that he had paid enough now, and their agreement was that Len took care of the punishments now, that he was in charge of setting Barry right again.

„Always, Scarlet“ Len replied with a smile, and by now Barry had pulled back enough to see the soft smile stretch across his lover‘s face. „For you, always. Hungry?“

Barry let out a little chuckle but obligingly moved over to the chair, sinking down on it with a little groan as his ass protested. He had deserved that soreness though, and he wouldn‘t run away from it.

„You always feed me after. I thought that would be more of Mick‘s thing?“ he teased, earning a little boop on the nose before Len served him up more than half the casserole. He had given up giving him normal portions and having to refill his plate ten times a while ago. He even had extra big plates for dinners with Barry now.

„Well, you tend to come around for dinnertime, in time you haven‘t noticed.“

„Yeah… I like having dinner with you.“

Len looked down bashfully (Barry had almost squealed the first time he had seen that look on Len, and he still thought an angel was born somewhere everytime Len looked lie this) and gave an embarrassed little chuckle. He wasn‘t good at talking about feelings, but that was okay. He expressed them in other ways, after all.

„Do you want to take the collar off, pet?“ he asked, clearly changing the topic. But Barry just shook his head, raising a hand to rest on top of the leather.

„I‘d like to keep it for now, Master.“

Len sat down across from him and reached out, Barry easily met him halfway and let their fingers entwine on top of the table while they ate. Barry loved how accomodating Len was for his need for phyiscal touch, especially after a punishment.

„I feel lots better now though, thank you“ he told Len as he dug into his food one-handedly. Luckily it only required a fork anyway, and neither Barry or Len were much one for all too proper etiquette anyway.

„I‘m glad to hear that. You‘re a good boy again after all, your punishment is over. You have paid for what you did, now you can concentrate on the good aspects of it.“

He knew that Len meant the many lives that he had managed saving, and the faith that would instill in people in the Flash and in the hope that their city could be saved from whatever evil would befall it next, but all Barry could think about was having dinner with Len like this, his ass nice and sore for a few hours, holding hands with him now, maybe cuddling on the couch later with a glass of wine or a beer, and maybe Len would let him stay the night and he would borrow one of Len‘s pyjamas and stand next to him while brushing their teeth after they took a shower together where Len would inspect his ass and his hips and ask him if he wanted some lotion on it still or if he was good, and then they‘d tumble into bed together, most likely both laughing heartily at a pun that Len had made. Those were all great things in Barry‘s life, and in some weird twist of fate he would never have gotten them had he not felt the need to punish himself so badly.

But for now, he simply smiled back at Len and gave his hand a little squeeze.

„You mean, like getting to spend time with you?“

That got him another of those bashful smiles, and Barry decided that right now, in this moment, he was happy.


End file.
